A recent post in the 'After Hours and Humour' section related a story from a self-professed soft-skills trainer working with an India-based HDI certification company regarding 'dumb customers'. While the story was humorous, and went on to offer a tongue-in-cheek salute to all customers of a major computer company, it sparked a few questions that I thought I'd pose to the gallery.

By the way, we are a consultancy that is located in the same 'home town' of this computer company, and indeed even provides them with services on occasion. I've noted the hundreds of call center jobs that have been exported from my beloved home town to the "cheap market" and so forgive me if my questions seem a bit... over the top. The questions, then:

1. From a soft-skills training perspective, how much 'eye-rolling' should be considered acceptable from technical support staff (and trainers) regarding the customers, and what long-term effect will this negative disposition toward the customer have on the overall service provided?

2. As an outsource company, aren't overall revenues driven by the number of calls received, and wouldn't this revenue decrease if only 'smart customers' called? I would presume that the definition of a 'smart customer' would preclude their calling technical support at all, leaving only the 'dumb' people left to call...?

3. What is the international definition of 'dumb'? Is it 'dumb' to call technical support if one cannot figure out a technical issue? Is it 'dumb' to outsource critical customer contact opportunities to the cheapest option, regardless of service capabilities? Is it 'dumb' to showcase one's soft-skill training capabilities by publicly spotlighting a specific person, nationality and/or set of customers of a particular company, as being 'dumb'?

Thoughts anyone?

Brent

Brent You are right. The person was way out of line by making that post. Its a different matter making a joke out of it and a different matter poking fun and ridiculing, let me tell you at one point of time in India people were so unfamiliar with the concept of a fax machine that they used to ask "I write and communicate in a language different from English. How is the machine going to understand that?" I that a classification of a 'Dumb Customer'?
You are what you think. One cannot put on a mask while servicing the customers and then take it off. It is an attitude, a belief of offering good service, and if the concerned person believes that customers like those are 'dumb' ..........
well I have nothing more to say.

Brent,

I think the comment made in the Humor section (which I have read) clearly displays the difference in ideology between people at different levels of responsibility within a corporate setting. It's a good barometer of not only his opinion of technically challenged customers, but also on how seriously he takes his job.

The author is no doubt a low level customer service rep who sees a customer with a minor issue as a hassle rather than his duty. I guess he din't take into consideration the fact that with less little issues there are less little positions to fill in customer service.

I doubt that he will see your posting though, because people of such immaturity often don't venture into forums of serious discussion.

Best of luck in future endeavours,

Mike McLenehan
Sales Manager
Voicetronic International

p.s. I have the utmost respect for the people of customer service who take there jobs seriously enough to do them well.

Mike and Joseph,

Thanks for your supportive replies. In re-reading my original post, I think I probably came across a little strong. The original posting in question was supposed to be funny (and maybe it was) - it just struck me wrong, I suppose. I believe the forum was in the midst of discussing the advantages and disadvantages of global outsourcing, and to me the posting illustrated an overall attitude that was telling.

My sense of humor is ordinarily much more healthy than that. :)

I look forward to reading more posts from the both of you.

Brent

Hi Brent,

The remark you refer to appears isolated so I am unwilling to comment.

Having referred to Penguin Concise Dictionary !! and Dictionary.com, sorry but I dont have access to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definitons of the word appear more or less the same either side of the Atlantic pond.

However speaking personally I do believe the usage of 'dumb' is applied somewhat differently, it seems to be used quite frequently and freely in the US to denote stupdity (perhaps due to ease - only one syllable), in the UK it doesnt seem to be used as often, this is I believe linked to our "English sensibilities" regarding name calling and perhaps tentativeness surrounding its association with muteness and disabilities. The Brits would I think be more likely use 'stupid' instead of dumb and it does stand out to us when used in US movies.

Howdy, thanks for the reply and for the clarification. Quite interesting, actually - in the US, the word 'dumb' is considered much milder than the word 'stupid'. If I told one of my younger brothers, "That was a dumb thing to do.", he may agree. If I told him, "That was a stupid thing to do.", we might end up out in the back yard.

On a similar note, the use of the word 'brilliant' by people from the UK is different than the US as well. I remember the first time a friend from London replied to an idea that I had with "Brilliant." It took her repeated, and seeming overuse of the word over several days before I realized she was not complimenting me - she was simply agreeing with me.

Always fun to catch these little differences.

Gentlemen,

Sorry to butt in but the above postings seem to, (inadvertently), illustrate a very interesting point.

We have seen two different, native, English speaking parties converse on the different cultural perceptions of a single syllable, four-letter word, namely "dumb". Although both interpretations are not entirely dissimilar, culturally their perceived meanings are far enough apart to cause insult to one party and mirth to the other.

This perhaps adds another dimension to the overseas outsourcing debate, (sorry to bang on about it!!!). Could this kind of diversity of interpretation cause even greater confusion\damage\issue for non-native English speakers entering into conversation with native English speakers? Especially in a complaint\fault resolution environment where the customer may already be annoyed and ready to jump on the smallest indiscretion or misdemeanour?

At this relatively early stage in the overseas outsourcing movement it is probably rarely an issue given that most companies who are using overseas call centres are doing so in order to move high-volume, low 'value', transactional calls. However, if\when overseas call\contact centres are used for more 'high' value, relationship building, CRM-style calls, where contacts tend to be longer in duration and more critical to a company's profitability and long-term health, could this be a major stumbling block? Or is it more likely that by then these overseas operations will have sufficient experience from the high-volume, low value, transactional queries provided sufficient exposure to enable them to converse comfortably in English with callers from many different cultures and countries?

Just a final point regarding the original posting, I'm not too sure where I stand on the agent's original ‘dumb customer’ comments.

I have had the pleasure\pain of being an agent and speaking to the public when I first started out working in the call centre industry 7 years ago. I have also endured some rather un-savoury conversations with people who have not been fair to the company or myself and as a result I can often understand the exasperation that agents feel. However, this is something that almost invariably must go with the job of being a customer-facing call centre agent. How individuals cope with this is key. If I was a centre\team manager I would much prefer my agents to moan and groan internally or within the company of peers rather than taking their frustrations and grievances out on the person causing their 'pain' or, even worse, the next caller!

If we are being realistic about the role of the 'average' CSR then I think we all have to empathise that from time to time it can be a deeply frustrating and annoying occupation, just as sometimes it can be really rewarding one.

Sermon over.

Dear Willow,

I'm sure there are many more misunderstandings and double interpretations that
we will come across;

My personal favourites are;

When interviewing candidates to provide an example of how they have 'gone out of their way for a customer', many candidates (particularly those who have English as a second language) interpret this literally and talk about how they visited the shop next door to obtain something that they didn't stock etc.

Usage of the word "Look" - in Australia this is a commonplace term which is simply used as a conjunction, if you use this in the UK it is strong it implies that the recipient wasn't paying attention and more care is needed, often a warning or rubuke follows after. e.g.. Look, I understand what you mean..... in UK terms this can come across as a strong contradiction. Always have to educate the Aussies on that one.

Queenslanders frequently stick the word "But" at the beginning of a sentence - its just a colloquialism of theirs.

Accents too - many S. African's are not aware how harsh and aggressive their accent sounds to our southern English softie sensibilities, it can cause many an unhappy customer just becuase it sounds agressive..

As regards those on the receiving end I long to hear someone with English as a second language understand a broad Geordie, Glaswegian or Belfastian.

Lastly, a couple of weeks ago I was speaking to my ISP, the helpline was closed so I called technical support, I got through to India, despite my frustration at not being able to contact the right number the operator didn't understand my Received Pronunciation tones and even when I emphasised the words "You aren't listening to me and repeated myself on 4 or 5 occasions". I am sure he interpreted this differently. He was passively hearing not actively listening....sometime you can be as clear as day but if the lug holes at the other end aren't working!!!

Willow,

Thanks for a thoughtful and thought-provoking reply. I agree with your correlation between the initial event in this string and the overall picture of overseas outsourcing. The importance of nuances in language, even among those who speak relatively the same language, is too large to overlook.

In fact, even within the US, the differences in pace, tone and pronunciation among the various regions here can cause some ire. One of the (several) reasons that the call center industry was so dominant initially in our Midwest area was due to the neutral accents of the residents there. People in the Northeast US will often think a Southerner's drawl equates to slow and dumb (there's that word again). And the people in the South may mistake a Yankee's rapid pace and colorful language as rude. Neither are necessarily true.

As far as offshore outsourcing is concerned, my opinion is that the language barrier eventually will be the key to companies wanting to keep (or bring back)their business where their customers are, at home. But only after enough customers make their voices heard.

To be clear about the original post that started my little rant (the owner locked it), it was written by a self-professed trainer at an offshore technical support outsourcer, and named customers of a specific company as being 'dumb'. Regardless of the varied perceptions of the word, it surely was not meant in a loving, huggy-kissy way. And it did little to make me feel any better about where all the jobs in my city have gone.

I agree, however, that the CSR position can be a frustrating one. I started 'on the phones' myself 12 years ago. Some days were a blast, others were mind-numbing. But the economy back then was a little stale (pre-boom time), and to be honest, I felt thankful to have a job. So, back to one of my original questions: how much eye-rolling is acceptable by agents and trainers, and what is the long-term effect on the the overall service? Or better yet, what's a good approach to helping CSRs deal with the daily frustrations of customer service?

Brent

Brent / Willow,

The one thing you've both overlooked is that some are (and on this occasion
admit to it.)

I'm doing this from memory so some of the details may be blurred
but you'll get the idea. This was from the home shopping tech support line I set up.

M=Me
C=Customer

M: Thank you for calling xxxx Technical support my name's Dave how can I help.

C: Hi, I'm trying to install your CD-ROM and it keeps giving me an install error.

M: Ok can you tell me which error it's giving?

C: It say's it can't find your server to update the prices.

M: Right. I'm not aware of any problems at our end but can we run a couple of quick checks on the connection? This'll make it easier to trace a fault if it is our network. Before we start do you have 2 phone lines or will I have to call you back after you've run the test.

C: I've got 2 lines.

M: Great than makes it easier. Can you go to Start, Programmes and then open an MS-DOS window. When you've got that open we'll ping our server and see if it responds.

C: I haven't got a DOS window option.

M: That's odd. Can you read out from the top down which programmes are listed.

C: OK, Adobe, Acessories, Word, Excel,Access,(**10 or so more you get the idea**),Internet Explorer, Hardcore Porn Online. Oh S**T sorry sorry........

M: Phone on mute, crying my eyes out whilst splitting sides....

C: (In Background) Sorry, I meant to keep that quiet. I've found the DOS Window.

M: (Eventually) Ok can you type Ping 000.000.000.000 and see what happens..

Rest of call ok. Turns out to be an ISP problem.

DaveA

Oh my. Great story, Dave - I guess some words need no further explanation. I'm not sure how you held yourself together.